Saving the Red Sea from a “Floating Bomb” - The decaying FSO SAFER Oil Tanker (A Road to Geneva Event), July 27 9AM EST

Jul 27, 2021 | World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) Blue Peace Group
online

Yemen is experiencing one of the world’s gravest humanitarian crises. After 7 Years of conflict, blockade, poverty, and pandemics, the potential explosion of the FSO SAFER decaying oil tanker, moored off the Yemeni coast, would exacerbate the suffering of millions. Loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil, the FSO SAFER oil tanker is situated in the Red Sea near Al-Hudayda port, a port which receives around 70% of Yemen's imports, including critically needed food and humanitarian aid. Since May 2020, seawater has been seeping into the engine room of FSO SAFER, bringing the likelihood of rupture or exposure of the tanker closer than ever. According to the United Nations, the FSO SAFER oil spill could be four times worse than the Exxon Valdez accident bringing the cleaning costs as high as $1.5 billion extended in over 25 years of work. These considerable costs cannot be managed easily by Yemen nor the international community.

The impacts of an FSO SAFER tanker oil spill would be wide-reaching: It would result in extensive damage to the Red sea marine ecosystems and have significant human and economic consequences, such as the destruction of hundreds of square kilometers of farmland and the pollution of thousands of water wells (UNEP, 2020). 

This online Road to Geneva event brings several experts and young professionals from Yemen and the international community together to highlight the importance of addressing this potential preventable disaster, taking into account the human rights and environmental peacebuilding perspectives. The session will provide context through an overview of the current situation of Yemen as well as the current status of the decaying FSO SAFER oil tanker. Speaker presentations will discuss the possible humanitarian, environmental, and economic consequences in the short and long term. Finally, recommendations and potential solutions will be identified to mitigate the risk and prevent a potential disaster from the FSO SAFER. 

The webinar will be moderated by Carolina Toresi Mackinnon and Ahmed Alboraey. It will feature the following speakers: 

  • AbdulGhani Ghaman  (Ph.D. – Geoscientist)  
Gaghman is a Yemeni development activist, expert in the area of Governance and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS- Global Goals 2030). 20 Years of expertise in project management and natural resources development planning, risk assessment and uncertainty analysis in oil and gas business. Co-founder of ULTARE consulting, and Yemen SDGs to promote SDGs in Yemen. He has Degree in Earth Science, Master in and Knowledge Management (MBA) - UK. Awarded Ph.D. in Economic and International business from Bucharest University of Economic studies (ASE).
  • Hussain Nasir Al-Yabari (Holm Akhdar, local NGO)
Yemeni journalist who has been working in journalism since 2016. He has worked as Local Coordinator at French Media Development Agency (CFI) since 2018 and as Journalist Producer and Coordinator at the Yemen Peace Talks Newsroom in Sweden (2018). He has been a member of the Holm Akhdar Editorial Team since 2019 and is an editor on the HolmAkhdar platform. He contributed with the Holm Akhdar team on producing video reports about FSO Safer: Potential Health Impacts of the FSO Safer Catastrophe (Jan, 2021) and FSO SAFER: The Economic & Humanitarian Impacts (March 2021).
  • Paul Horsman (Greenpeace International) 
Project leader - marine biologist by training; experience with many oil spills around the world including the 1991 Gulf war, 2010 Deepwater Horizon and others. 
  • Ahmed El Droubi (Greenpeace MENA)
Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace